Islam has a relationship with the other Abrahamic faiths, namely Judaism and Christianity, through the concept of Wiḥdah al-Dīn. This concept affects Islam in many ways. Not only it affects in the principal matters of faith, such as the belief in the other prophets, but it also affects belief in the previous sacred revelations, such as the Tawrāh, Zabūr and Injīl. From this belief in the previous sacred revelations, some Muslims resort to the Isrā’īliyyāt to understand Islam. Nevertheless, to use sources from other religions to understand Islam, specifically in this case of Isrā’īliyyāt, seems confusing and perplexing. Chronologically, polemic on the use of Isrā’īliyyāt had begun since the age of the Prophet Muhammad. This issue is not only restricted to the Muslim circle, but it also prompts questions from the Jews and the Christians as to why Muslims would source the Torah and the Bible to understand Islam. This paper highlights issues related to the use of Isrā’īliyyāt in Muslim scholarship by exposing some positions in the Islamic rulings and the sharī cah justifications for these positions. These positions in the Islamic rulings and its sharīcah justifications are extracted through the use of textual analysis methodology. It is suggested that from understanding these justifications that one can make sense of the use of Isrā’īliyyāt in Muslim Scholarship. It is also suggested that from this principal understanding of the use of Isrā’īliyyāt in Muslim scholarship, the Biblical interpretation in the Islamic contexts should be developed and discussed by the present and future scholars of Muslim-Christian studies.

Islamic civilization is made up of various civilizations, particularly in the Central Asian region where Buddhist and Islamic scholars from the Middle East are emerging. As a result of the interactions and relationships in the areas of science, literature, medicine and the architecture, Islamic civilization reached its peak in that era, particularly during the Abbasid period (750-1258 AD). Thus, this article discusses in detail what type of the Muslim-Buddhist relationship is, and how it contributes to Islamic civilization. The study method is qualitative by emphasizing content analysis as well as adopting a historical approach. Studies have found the intellectual activity of Muslim-Buddhist dialogue to be one of the contributing factors to the excellence of Islamic civilization, especially in the Abbasid times. Studies suggests on the exchange of knowledge and religious heritage to develop mutual understanding and tolerance among both the religious followers.

Malaysia is made up of people of different races and religions live in peace and unity. Inter-religious dialogue is an approach in fostering mutual respect between people of different religions and ethnicities . In Malaysia inter faith dialogue initiated by NGOs such as the Malaysian Interfaith Network, Allied Coordinating Committee of Islamic NGOS and the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity , Hinduism , Sikhism and Taoism, government agencies such as the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia , University of Malaya Centre for Dialogue of Civilisations and Committee to Promote Understanding and Harmony on Inter- Religious and political parties Malaysian Chinese Associate ( MCA ) , the People Justice party (PKR) and Parti Islam Se - Malaysia (PAS).This article discusses the development of interfaith dialogue in Malaysia from 1956 to 2010. The discussion concluded inter-religious dialogue is growing in popularity among Malaysians and has good prospects for the future.

Religionswissenschaft or the study of religion is an attempt to understand various aspects of religion, especially through the use of other intellectual disciplines. The Muqaddimah is principally meant to be an introduction to the voluminous text of history, namely Kitab al-cIbar. Yet, the creation of Muqaddimah includes information on the study of human, which simultaneously includes information and views on religions. There are many views on religion highlighted by Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddimah. These views on religion mostly describe the roles of religion in human life as found through his sociohistorical approach of cUmrān science. Through the use of qualitative content analysis on Muqaddimah text, this study found that there is a focus made by Ibn Khaldun in his views on religion, namely religion and happiness. This article explores Ibn Khaldun’s views on religion and its roles for human happiness. Many modern scholars of religious study have shared their views on religious roles towards happiness. These modern views came from scholars of many religious backgrounds such as the atheists, seculars and religionists. In the Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun pronounces his understanding of happiness, which are not divorced from the religious teachings and practices. This article purports to highlight Ibn Khaldun’s views on religious roles towards happiness, which focusing on Ibn Khaldun’s justifications and rationalizations for such religious roles. From findings on Ibn Khaldun’s views on religious roles towards happiness, this article suggests that Ibn Khaldun’s rationalizations for such religious roles determine his thought style that is integrative (naqlī-caqlī) or in tawhidic manner. This article proposes that Muqaddimah is supposed to be taken as a representative of Islamic thought in the midst of many references for religious study, especially in encountering various present views on religious roles in human’s life.

Ibn Khaldun is one of many Muslim scholars in the study of Islamic history and civilization, who is popularly known for his Muqaddimah. The Muqaddimah is meant to be an introduction to the voluminous Kitab al-cIbar. Yet, the creation of Muqaddimah includes information on the study of human, which includes information on the non-Muslim religions. By including information on the non-Muslim religions in his Muqaddimah, this means that there are specific sources used by Ibn Khaldun for this purpose. In any research writings, credible and reliable sources of information are among important elements in determining a valid, useful and accurate research finding. Through the use of qualitative content analysis on Muqaddimah text, this article explores Ibn Khaldun’s sources of information on the non-Muslim religions. Two typologies of Ibn Khaldun’s sources are relayed in this article, namely their main forms and their religious origin. In terms of main forms of sources, there are two main forms of sources found in the Muqaddimah, namely critical observation and textual sources. While for their religious origin, Ibn Khaldun’s sources of other religions could be divided into three main types, namely first, Muslim sources, second, Christian sources and third, Jewish sources. This article opines that these sources are proofs of Ibn Khaldun’s epistemology, altogether of his understanding of knowledge and religion, as integrative or in tawhidic manner. It is possible to conclude that due to this integrative or tawhidic understanding, Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah has been recognized as amongst world’s great literatures and referred by many international scholars until today.

This paper will unravel this issue and propose an alternative categorization or taxonomy with regards to Muslim heritage in religionswissenschaft. The main reason for this effort is to guide the contemporary and future researchers to the great treatises of Muslim heritage in religionswissenschaft. Therefore, this categorization or taxonomy will chart the mapping of possible references for any prospective readings, researches and new findings. This categorization can assist one's reading towards deeper understanding on issues in Muslim scholarship in religionswissenschaft. Likewise, this categorization can also help researchers to attain a better understanding of the opinion of any Muslim scholars in the field of comparative religion.

This paper examines a writing of the late William Montgomery Watt’s (1909-2006) monumental work entitled Muslim-Christian Encounters: Perceptions and Misperceptions that is related to the legacy of study of religions. The authors emphasize on Watt’s important claim that due to Muslims’ tradition of Islamic self-sufficiency or showing no interest in studying doctrines of other religions, has led to the dearth of literatures in the field. This study employed a qualitative methodology in which the textual analysis approach was applied on Watt’s writing. The findings indicate that there are seven examples provided by Watt to strengthen his notion of Islamic self-sufficiency, each of whom has methodological flaw and opens room for criticism and improvement.